I decided in October of last year to attempt to listen to AIO in it's entirety in chronological order. I started that month and since then I've joined this forum. It's been interesting thus far! Is there anyone here who's tried or done this before? What was your experience like?

Cool beans! I've been following the AioWiki page that sorts them all into chronological order from the first audio drama Focus did to the last episode produced. I never knew before this that the AIO albums don't contain the episodes in the order they were released in. It's been pretty cool reading detailed facts, trivia, and goofs about each episode as I get to them. I'm currently up to episode #181 "It Takes Integrity." It may take me few years to complete my quest with 800+ episodes already produced and many more to come while I'm taking this journey. It's been fun though! The character and plot developments are excellent to experience this way.

My experience is being rather bemused by the dated episodes. Castles and Crusades is so bad it's unintentionally funny. It's so far off the mark of how Dungeons and Dragons works I am dismayed more people didn't call the episode out for how inaccurate it is.

And the idea that Applesauce would be so coveted when stores can pretty much control everything in their store from something as powerful as a smart phone and it's not a closely guarded secret is quaint in retrospect.

There's also an episode about how George was mad about a dress Donna chose to wear and how it made all the boys think the wrong thoughts. In today's #metoo world, there's no way a woman would take being told she can't wear something because some guys around her can't control themselves. It's pretty much supporting the idea of victim blaming and that women who dress that way are "asking for it." Now, I realize nobody made the point Donna was asking for the negative attention but it was implied. It just illustrates how much the world has changed since then.

So far I am still on the Hal Smith episodes. I am also keeping up on my NPR shows like Wait Wait Don't Tell Me as I go through them and only listen to them on my commute to and from work. So it will be a while before I get to the current episodes, but I am looking forward to it. I just finished episode 197 tonight. Mortal Coil is coming up soon, and that was quite a powerful episode.

I think it's fun to experience it all in order again. And to wait anxiously for my favorite episodes to play, and not jump around. The only thing I didn't like was around the time they started the home videos and they recycled some of the older episodes, but that's a minor complaint.

And I am very much looking forward to hearing the episodes post Eugene's wedding. Back in the 90s when I listened to the show, that's when I stopped with the show. I've gotten back into it because of all the nostalgia I have for this franchise. And I really can't wait to hear what they do after the reboot. But I won't hear it until those episodes come up in chronological order!

Cool beans! I've been following the AioWiki page that sorts them all into chronological order from the first audio drama Focus did to the last episode produced. I never knew before this that the AIO albums don't contain the episodes in the order they were released in.

Castles and Crusades is so bad it's unintentionally funny. It's so far off the mark of how Dungeons and Dragons works I am dismayed more people didn't call the episode out for how inaccurate it is.

Look at Skyrim. Even if the two-parter didn't work for DnD, it still can be well applied to situations today.

I dunno, I don't see it. Castles and Cauldrens really was a strange episode--nothing like D&D nor like a modern game like Skyrim... because one is played at a table and the other is played on a screen. If anything C&C sounds like what Wonder World is supposed to be about... kids outside playing instead of playing video games or whatever.

I remember the early episodes taking oddly hard stances on things like video games and arcades, its just funny now seeing how video games have evolved and pretty much anything that would've been out there in the late 80's was utterly tame compared to some things today--and kids today will listen to those early Blackgaard episodes and have no clue what an arcade is, lol.

Well, I'm not sure that I agree, as far as FotF's video game stance goes. On all the occasions I can think of, it was shown as not being inherently wrong, but having the potential for misuse, a position that as far as I can tell FotF has consistently maintained from the beginning up to the present. Whenever a character (often Jimmy, but Isaac and Lawrence also come to mind) is embroiled in some trouble involving games, it's always something adjacent to or connected to it: spending all of their money at the arcade, or playing instead of doing work, or breaking a fast, or disobeying their parents, or using someone else's property without permission. They never say that gaming in and of itself in moderation is inherently wrong. Even Jason's experiment with arcade games in "Red Wagons and Pink Flamingos" is not explicitly condemned, in spite of Jack's apparent opposition to them, as they come to something of a compromise by the end. This stance is generally maintained in later episodes, from the episode that primarily focused on this issue ("Gloobers") up to the present day, where Matthew Parker and Barrett Jones are known for playing video games (any trouble arising from their overuse or misuse of them).

While it's true that arcades were associated with "villains" in the show, I think that has more to do with showing the villains' encouragement of a lack of moderation. In both the Blackgaard and Novacom arcs Whit was not primarily concerned with their arcade/video games -- the overall worldview, from the occult to bad content in Novacom programming, took center stage in those cases. We know it isn't a general distrust of technology since Whit himself runs arguably the most advanced "video games" around, via the Imagination Station and Room of Consequence. I think the contention here is primarily that they can be "mindless" (Whit's main objection to them, as Jack mentions) and prone to abuse, which are both true.

Regarding C&C, I think the objection is to the magic and references to other occult belief systems, which in fact D&D contained then and still does to this day, though admittedly it isn't expected to be acted out in the vivid detail that C&C depicts. It isn't the playing outside with swords that's the problem. You could say that a type of roleplaying, though again in moderation, is even promoted, in episodes like Wonderworld, Heat Wave, and in "Family Vacation" when Jimmy and the other kid play Bible heroes.

Regarding C&C, I think the objection is to the magic and references to other occult belief systems, which in fact D&D contained then and still does to this day, though admittedly it isn't expected to be acted out in the vivid detail that C&C depicts. It isn't the playing outside with swords that's the problem. You could say that a type of roleplaying, though again in moderation, is even promoted, in episodes like Wonderworld, Heat Wave, and in "Family Vacation" when Jimmy and the other kid play Bible heroes.

I've just never cared for fantasy so it's never been my thing, but I guess I've never really understood why there is a large segment of evangelical Christianity very against D&D, yet, while I'm sure some oppose both, they are usually okay with and flat out encourage Lord of the Rings and Narnia. I mean, yeah, there is some Christian message there, especially Narnia, but LOTR is much more vague and its just a big sword and sorcery epic.

Like if playing "Bible characters" is okay in Odyssey, would playing LOTR? If that's okay, then why not generic D&D guy?

I mean, yeah, there is some Christian message there, especially Narnia, but LOTR is much more vague and its just a big sword and sorcery epic.

In both cases, I think the fact that the 'creator God' in the books are symbolic of or otherwise represent God is what helps push them over the edge into respectability with many people.

As far as 'sorcery'... it seems to be pretty clear that people can't just "do magic"; we don't see the hobbits running around "casting fireballs". In Lord of the Rings, magical things are frequently either evil or of some kind of divine origin or at least inspiration. Gandalf is described as a 'wizard', but practically speaking is more like an angel, and the Elves seem to be innately magical.

Narnia is similar, but with even fewer exceptions, and I suspect given that its characters and plot are very obviously made to be analogous to Scripture, people are more inclined to give it leeway anyway.

Yeah, that is dumb, Castles and Cauldrons was a horrible episode that didn't reflect anything, not Skyrim(I've played it so I would know) and not D&D.

There were so many strange things about it...

Obviously the show was FOTF's way of taking a dig at Dungeons and Dragons. It was that way by design. So much fear mongering in that time period about Satanic rituals and demonic games... To me, the episode was more to push an agenda instead of teaching a valuable moral lesson.

Then when Whit has his Obi-Wan moment and "feels" something bad happened (like Obi-Wan did when Alderaan was destroyed in Star Wars) when Jimmy decides to play the game.

The idea that the game players could actually summon real evil spirits, too. Just...odd.

Not the worst episode of all of them (really? Over Caroling, Caroling?) but the one that, to me at least, was a fairly weak story.

But you have to chalk it up for all the unintentional humor of it. I laughed out loud several times listening to it.

The idea that the game players could actually summon real evil spirits, too. Just...odd.

While I agree C&C is a bizarre episode that is just cringy today, as was the baseless D&D panic of the time, this particular part I think I actually get. I think it's similar to the opposition to things like spirit boards, where it's not because of belief the actual thing itself can do anything, but a concern that engaging in that behavior or mindset makes an individual more susceptible to demonic influence.

The idea that the game players could actually summon real evil spirits, too. Just...odd.

While I agree C&C is a bizarre episode that is just cringy today, as was the baseless D&D panic of the time, this particular part I think I actually get. I think it's similar to the opposition to things like spirit boards, where it's not because of belief the actual thing itself can do anything, but a concern that engaging in that behavior or mindset makes an individual more susceptible to demonic influence.

The "spirit boards" are also fake. Like the Ouija Board. It was invented by the Parker Brothers. It's not based on some occultish thing.

Ever actually use one? There's always one in the group that is pushing the pointer to where they want it. Nothing demonic about it.

I would never use one, but because it's lame and stupid. Nothing about making people susceptible to "demonic influence."

Any stories about demonic influence from people using it is as fake as Mike Warnke testimony.

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